Hi all, I have two JRT Ralph aged 2 and Ted who is 17 weeks. Ted is a typical puppy and JRT very curious last night his nose lead him into trouble, he sniffed out raisins, 4 mini packs later we phoned our vet and got put through to Vets Now (never used before) he was admitted for IV, and further treatment he luckily is ok but bank balance isnt (512) anyway its done now. I am looking for insurance to cover both of the dogs, im confused as to the type i need, i would like one to cover accidents such as the above and general health issues should they arise. Can anyone recommend a good insurance and the type? Sorry at a loss ! Thanks Nicola
I got 6 JRT's but no insurance I have pet bank accounts instead, plus lot of insurance companies are now not paying up for certain accidents, also the premiums go up every year & double once the dog reaches certain ages 8, 10, 12, some insurance companies won't insurance some breeds once they reach certain ages.
Honestly it's cheaper by far to become tidy around the house. Go around on your hands and knees and puppy proof it. I think pet insurance is a bit of a rip off but have fairly deep pockets and empty credit card, if you're on a tight budget I think you need it for emergencies. Some companies do increase your premiums with every claim a bit like car insurance and some don't. Some double or triple the price once the dog reaches 8 others just won't pay out for euthanasia after that age but the premiums remain the same. You'll also need to check if the dog dies do the premiums stop immediately or will you be expected to pay for the full year. It's a minefield good luck x
I don't insure my dogs I prefer to put an amount away each month in a separate acount, But for anyone seeking to insure petplan is the best in my opinion. And most vets will deal direct with them, they don't seem to put the premium up by to much each year either.
I'd recommend Pet Plan, Cover for Life plan. What this means is if your dog has for example cancer, they will cover you up to your policy limit for the insurance year, if the dog is unfortunate enough to get cancer again they will still cover it under the same criteria, whereas, if you don't have Cover for Life, it would be a specific exclusion at renewal. The same applies to ongoing medical issues, such as epilepsy, diabetes etc, which may need frequent checks. I have this policy with a £4000 per year limit, my pup has so far had an operation for a luxating patella, and exploratory work which revealed she had tonsillitis of all things. All this before she was 18 months old. The combined amount for this was £3200, of which I paid £200 for the excesses, so is insurance worth it, from my point of view yes. To clarify, the £4000 policy limit is not per condition, but the total for the year. Hope this is of some help. Stuart.
We always use Pet Plan both when we had boarding kennels and for our own dogs. When a client tried to make a claim against us Pet Plan took over completely with legal help and lots more. All I can say is this company is in my opinion the best out there, may not be the cheapest but definately helped us out when dogs in the kennels needed vet treatment even for Kennel cough. I would not even consider looking elsewhere
I Have pet bank accounts instead of pet insurance, as all the money paid in is mine, I put what I have spare in each month which soon adds up, (£15, 000 in pet accounts which the insurance company would of had) plus a lot of insurance companies don't cover on going illness
I think that pet insurance can be very beneficial, especially for the jrt breed because they tend to suffer from more purebred type health issues than mixed breed dogs. My puppy jack has an incredibly talent to find mischief if he’s not kept entertained at all times and a while back he ingested some Christmas lights and his recovery and hospitalization were very expensive, and petplan who I insured him through covered 80% of the total bill which ended up being in the thousands. Here is some articles I read that might help you to understand the ins and outs of pet insurance a little better. Feel free to send me a message with any questions and I’ll try to help too. http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2010/09/is-pet-insurance-worth-the-cost/index.htm https://www.petinsuranceu.com/jack-russell-terrier-pet-insurance/ http://lifehacker.com/5864155/is-pet-insurance-worth-it
Pet insurance to me is a waste of time - way back when I had my first GSD the insurance company refused to pay for a operation he at to have, because he was already diagnosed with the condition before I took out the policy, which I had told them several times before taking out the policy, they guaranteed me over the phone that any future operations would be covered by my policy but it wasn't all the insurance company wanted was my money [£740 over the years I had the policy] I cancelled my policy straight away & put the money direct into a pet bank account [£15,000 at moment] all this money is mine to do as I please with, it helps pay for their boosters flea & worming treatments as well as health checks.
Thats not true, it will all depend on they cover you take out, most all companies will have a lifetime cover (or how ever they word it) which will cover any ongoing illness,
I would recommend "Tesco premium cover, " they have never let me down on payment, The problem with keeping separate bank accounts for pets, is that its to easy to dip into if you have emergencies, there are not many people who can keep £15.000 plus in a (pet) bank account when the roof needs replacing or other major emergencies. vet treatment can be expensive, and insurance cover can also be expensive, but its part of owning pets, you have to look at it like any other form of insurance, you would not go without household/car or any other insurance, so taking a good policy out is peace of mind when you probably need it the most.
You can't dip into your pet insurance if you need a new roof so why would you want to dip into your pets bank account, which you can't anyway as Pets accounts only allows you to take maximum of £50 per month out, if pets fall ill & needs vet treatment then you take bill to bank & they will write cheque or do direct transfer to vets bank account[depending on your vets which they choose] if you have more then one pet then you just add their names to the account. If the times comes when you have no pets at all then you can transfer all money into your account or leave in pets account just in case you adopt/buy another pet. I have had my pets accounts for many years now & the money in there as paid for all neutering/spaying of my dogs/cats/rats/rabbits, several broken legs, X-Rays, on going cancer treatments for one of my previous Dobermans, all flea/worming treatments & 2 major operations. Like I have said having pet account is far better for me then pet insurance.
the point I am making is that if you are in need of money for A>B>C ,, its not many people who can leave that amount of cash in a bank account that is soley for your pet. Most people don`t have that luxury, accumulating such funds is beyond most folk, and understandably if you need cash you will use what has been put aside for your pet. then what happens when you are faced with a bill amounting to thousands, , that why for most people insurance is the best way to go.
I think a lifetime policy is definitely worth it if you don't have a lot of savings. I was about £1000 per dog to finally get a diagnosis of bone cancer. So finding a few thousand pounds in a few years would have put us in a lot of debt as I don't have that kind of money about
Nigredo was found to have HD early on. Nobody would cover him and if they would, surgery for that preexisting condition (and other things they deemed) wouldn't be covered, defeating the purpose. If he ever needs surgery, it'll cost around $3000 and I'd have to pay on that for AGES. But no insurance company would cover it since he was presumably born with it. Jade never had insurance and when I looked at a few policies a few years ago, due to her age, monthly premiums were far too high. I just have to get by my own way.
If you had insured him before HD was diagnosed, you would have been covered, and depending on the cover it would determine for how long. But once a condition is diagnosed , then you try to get insurance, they will class that as pre existing.
That's one of the other reasons why I don't have pet insurance they triple the monthly payments once your dog reaches a certain age. As it stands I would have to pay £1, 872 per year for pet insurance (£156 per month) & would still have to pay extra for flea & worming treatments. That is why I have high interest rate pet account, yes there is a minimum amount I have to put in each month, buts its a lot less then what I would have to pay each month for pet insurance, plus I can redraw £50 to pay flea/worming treatments when needed.
The HD was noticed before 6 months of age. It would have been classed as a preexisting and non covered condition regardless. That's why I'm glad I didn't waste money on insurance. He was born with it and it is classed as genetic and any issues arising from it wouldn't be covered.
